The present invention relates to a device for controlling air temperature in a vehicle.
Devices of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. Air controlling or air conditioning devices are known which use an evaporator and a fan supplying the cooled air and located in the vehicle compartment under a dashboard. In this construction the air guides are separated from the heater. Such a location of the air conditioning device distorts comfort layers in the vehicle space by introducing a concentrated mass of cooled air into the central part of the space which settles in the lower part of the space. Hot air is displaced to the sealing. The separation of the air conditioning unit and the heating unit are not advisable, also due to increased costs.
When a car travels at high speed on a hot summer day, it will require considerable refrigerating capacity to keep the interior at a comfortable temperature. The same car, traveling on a cold winter day, will require considerable heating capacity.
Another automobile air conditioner uses a refrigerating system driven by the car engine to furnish cooling action. Warm engine coolant usually provides heat to the passenger compartment when needed. Conditioning the air in the interior of a car involves heating and cooling. The heat to warm the passenger is usually provided by circulating of hot coolant through a heater core. The engine water pump forces the warm coolant through the heater hoses and inside of the heater core. When cooling is needed, the air conditioning system to is brought into operation. It uses an evaporator inside a plenum chamber to cool the air circulated through the passenger compartment. The car engine, using a belt, drives the compressor to pump through the system.
Some devices of the above mentioned general type are disclosed in your U.S. Pat. No. 2,017,579; 2,068,475; 2,106,515; 2,787,129; 3,059,449; 3,753,462; 3,990,505; and German patents numbers 2,044,958; 2,158,408, 2204950 and 2,101,955.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling air temperature in a vehicle, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention resides, briefly stated, in a device which has a means forming a first circuit for circulation of an coolant, means forming a second circuit for circulation of a refrigerant; means for connecting said first circuit with an engine for heating the coolant, means for providing a heat exchange between said second circuit and said first circuit for cooling said coolant; a single air temperature regulating element; and means for alternatively connecting said first means to said air temperature regulating element so that when said coolant is heated from the engine and supplied through said first means said air temperature regulating element heats air in the vehicle, or connecting said second means with said common air temperature regulating element so that when said coolant in said first circuit is cooled by heat exchange with the refrigerant of the second circuit the cooled coolant is supplied to said air temperature regulating element to cool air in the vehicle, and a heat exchanger is provided for performing a heat exchange between the coolant of the first circuit and the refrigerant of the second circuit, wherein the heat exchanger is formed as a container in which the refrigerant is supplied, with a plurality of pipes extending through said container and containing the coolant, wherein the pipes are arranged so that there are a plurality of groups of pipes with said groups of pipes spaced from one another in a vertical direction and with the pipes of each group spaced from one another in a horizontal direction, with the pipes in each group connected with one another, and the groups of the pipes not connected with one another.
When the device is designed in accordance with the present invention it eliminates the disadvantages of the prior art and provides for the highly advantageous results in improvement of a comfortability of air heating or cooling and reducing the costs of the system of air temperature control.
The present invention excludes evaporator. A heater-exchanger is installed instead, and is formed in a special inventive way to provide efficient and reliable operation of the system.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.